Jezebel: Nuns

Doctors: Nuns Should Take The Pill For Its Non-Whorish Benefits

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:30:00 EST

Women around the world struggle with the moral and practical implications of the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control, and now researchers are arguing that the church should actually encourage some women to go on the Pill. Not because all women should be able to have control over their reproductive health, but because not having babies may be horribly detrimental to the health of nuns. More »

Why Would Anyone Become a Nun?

Erin Gloria Ryan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:50:00 EDT

In Great Britain, more young women are getting thee to the nunnery — and not the way Shakespeare meant it. In recent years, the motherland has seen an upswing in new, younger entrants into religious orders. The Anglican Church has been ordaining women into the priesthood since 1971, and Anglican priests are allowed to marry. Why would a woman opt to forsake the possibility of a family or traditional service in the name of religious service when an alternative is available? More »

Silvio Berlusconi Allegedly Likes Nun Stripteases

Anna North — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:00:00 EDT

Another week, another ridiculous revelation regarding Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties. This week, we learn he likes him some nuns. More »

Lady Gaga Releases Biblical Dance Track In Time For Easter

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:10:00 EDT

"Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to," Gaga sings in her new track, "Judas." The Madonna enthusiast is in her "Like A Prayer" phase, guys! Although: There are moments when it kind of sounds like she's saying "Jew, ah, ah." So maybe you can play the tune at Seder while looking for the Afikoman. In any case, as you may know, Judas was the dude who betrayed Jesus for cash. And Gaga gets all New Testament on us, hollering: More »

Nuns Vs. Goldman Sachs

Sadie Stein — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:15:00 EDT

Four orders of nuns that invest with Goldman Sachs are asking the board to review its "excessive" compensation policy — a policy that nearly doubled Lloyd Blankfein's salary in the past year. From their mouths to God's ears. More »

10 Things You May Have Missed On TV This week

Tracie Egan Morrissey — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:01:01 EST

In this week's compilation of pop culture crap, Celine Dion scats to her baby twins, a nun dances at her 103rd birthday party, and Gayle King tries to impress Lady Gaga. More »

Anatomy Class, As Taught By A Nun

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:23:00 EDT

[Nashville, September 14: Sister Janet Mary O.P. teaches an anatomy lesson to high school girls at St. Cecilia Academy. Twenty-seven postulants are entering the convent this fall, likely the nation's largest group of new nuns in training. Image via AP.]

French Nuns Hope To Release Chart-Topping Album In November

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:51:00 EDT

The nuns at the secluded Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation beat out 70 other religious orders to sign a deal with Universal. Their album of Gregorian chants, some of which date back to the sixth century, comes out next November. More »

Cheerleaders At Risk Of Developing Eating Disorders • Woman In Labor For 20 Days

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EDT

• A recent study of college cheerleaders found that cheerleaders overall were "highly disposed to eating disorders," but the athletes who wear midriff-bearing uniforms were at particularly high risk. 33.1% of survey participants displayed signs of developing disordered behaviors. More »

Nun Excommunicated For Suggesting Abortion

Anna North — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:00:00 EDT

A Phoenix nun has been "automatically excommunicated" for recommending an abortion to save the life of a woman, raising the question of how much the Church hierarchy really cares about women's lives. More »

Amanda Knox Wins Lawsuit Over Book • Two-Year-Old Girl Joins MENSA

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EDT

• The writer and publisher of a book about Amanda Knox have been ordered to pay the incarcerated American 40,000 Euros for revealing (fabricated) details about her sex life and publishing quotes from her diary, including: More »

Oprah: Nuns Talk Sex

Tracie Egan Morrissey — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST

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Being a former Catholic school girl whose feminism was actually inspired by the sisters who taught me, it was fascinating to watch the nuns on Oprah today speak about their sexual urges, which they liken to chocolate cravings. More »

Beatitudes

Sadie Stein — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:40:00 EST

Sister Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas, a Palestinian nun whose Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem continues her work of educating Arab girls, has been beatified. [MSNBC] More »

Nuns Teach One Another, Us, As They Lay Dying

Megan Carpentier — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:20:00 EDT

The nuns at the Sisters of St. Joseph convent near Rochester are — like many compatriots — aging and dying. But how they're choosing to do so could provide a model of live, and death, for the rest of us. More »

Mother, May I?

Anna Holmes — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:10:00 EDT

[Vatican City; July 8. Image via Getty]

Creatures Of Habit

Anna Holmes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:10:00 EDT

[Vatican City, July 1. Image via Getty]

Original Sin: "Feminist Nun" Promoted For Sainthood

Sadie Stein — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:20:00 EDT

After centuries of dismissal as a heretic, a radical 17th Century nun is finally getting recognition. More »

Swiss Farmers Create Beefcake Calendar • Drew Peterson Phones In Jokes From Jail

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:20:00 EDT

• In attempts to improve German-Swiss relations, the Swiss Farmers' Union has created a calendar of half-naked farmer hunks. "We want to show Switzerland in its best light, the countryside and a bit of its culture," says photographer Tina Steinnauer. • More »

Weapons Of Mass Construction On West Bank

Anna Holmes — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:10:00 EDT

[Bethlehem, May 13. Image via Getty]

Holy Cow

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:20:00 EDT

This ad, from a U.K. campaign for Antonia Federici Gelato, is an interesting mash-up of all the weird food/sex/sin associations we've discussed before. Click through for larger image. [AdFreak] More »

Sexist Beer Ad Gets The Boot • "To Kill a Mockingbird" Named Most Inspirational Book

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:20:00 EDT

• The advertising overlords have ruled that this ad for Courage beer suggesting that a man needs a drink to gather the "Dutch courage" to tell a woman her ass looks fat, is unacceptable. • More »

Sister Act

Sadie Stein — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:45:00 EST

Baltimore's Oblate Sisters of Providence, which celebrated its 180th birthday this year, was the first Catholic order in American to accept Black women as sisters. More »

Change Of Habit

Sadie Stein — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:40:00 EDT

Sister Lucita Cangemi is the last working New York member of an order of nuns, the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity, which provided social workers for Catholic Charities, making them unlikely "experts in prostitution, jails, diapers, rent, drugs and jobs." Retiring at 87 after more than 47 years on the job in some of New York's poorest neighborhoods, Sister Lucita says, "The talents of women are underused in the church, and maybe society in general. And I think that the church is gradually — put that word in — realizing it. Personally, I feel very fulfilled in my mission, but can appreciate the frustrations of others.” [NYT] More »

Oh My God

Tracie Egan Morrissey — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Women have always been marginalized in the Catholic church, and one priest, Rev. Antonio Rungi, is finally publicly recognizing that. So what is his plan for heightening the profile and importance for nuns? He'll be holding an online beauty contest to let people know that not all nuns are "old and dour." The "Miss Sister" contest will begin this September and people will be able to "vote [online] for the nun they consider a model." Rungi goes on to say that "being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn't hide it." Except 13 years of Catholic schooling have taught some of us that ridding oneself of vanity is a requirement for becoming a nun. It's one of the reasons (besides the whole no sex thing) that made convents seem so sucky. Anyway, thanks Catholicism, for breaking down stereotypes in the only way you know how. [MSNBC] More »

John Edwards, Ted Stevens And Everyone Else Are Hypocrites

Megan Carpentier — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

If the National Enquirer weren't relentless hyping its as-yet pictureless story about John Edwards' baby, we could just spend the whole morning talking about Republican hypocrisy, the new poster child for which is Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens. Good old Interwebs Ted was indicted on corruption charges, so we talk about that, his ass-grabbing Alaskan colleague (hint: it isn't Senator Lisa Murkowski), Olympic-sanctioned censorship, late apologies, Al Sharpton on the importance of admitting one's mistakes, and John Edwards' hush money that isn't hushing everything. God, it's like everyone's a hypocrite but me and Moe, and that might just be because nobody knows yet. More »

How Did We Let The Headscarf Become The New Swastika?

Moe — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Perhaps you have already let out a long woebegone sigh re the news of the two Obama volunteers who barred headscarf-wearing Muslim women from sitting near him at a rally in Detroit on Monday so as not to generate any more photographic fodder for the insane wing conspiracy. I would say this was a low point, but that would be to pretend the French ban on the things or the senseless murder of Alia Ansari — or for that matter, Monday's other headscarf debacle, the judge who ordered a London beauty salon owner to pay £4,000 to a Muslim woman she'd denied a job on account of her headscarf — hadn't happened. So here's the thing: can we drop this subject? And if not, can I somehow blame society's irritating insistence that the way a person dresses is the purest expression of a woman's identity for this fucking mess? Because back in Catholic school, I associated headscarves with Jesus' mom, and nuns. I didn't really get it with the nuns. No one was forcing them to don sixty pounds of black polyester in August. But guess what? More »

In Romania, Daniel Corogeanu, a former monk,...

Slut Machine — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:20:00 EST

In Romania, Daniel Corogeanu, a former monk, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the murder of a 23-year-old nun who died while he was performing an exorcism on her. The woman, Irina Cornici, who had been treated for schizophrenia in the past, believed she could hear the devil speak to her. Corogeanu and four other nuns performed an exorcism ritual that involved chaining Cornici to a cross, and depriving her of food and water for days. She died of suffocation. [CBS News] More »

What's better than an old-fashioned catfight?...

Jennifer — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:45:00 EDT

What's better than an old-fashioned catfight? An old lady nun fight! "Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground..." resulting in the closing of their convent, say news sources. To which we reply: Dude. [AFP] More »

Would Dan Rather Be Happier If Katie Couric Breastfed Her Male Colleagues?

Anna Holmes — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:33:25 EDT

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather accuses his old network of "tarting up" its broadcast. And yes, he was referring to Katie Couric. [Yahoo]